Many social media users took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express their concerns over the results of the Medical & Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for which over 40,000 candidates showed up on September 10.
They have compared the results of 2023 and 2022 to substantiate their argument pertaining to the high marks apparently secured by students. They claimed that this year at least 110 students got 190 marks out of 200, saying that last year two students were able to have such results.
MDCAT consists of multiple-choice questions. Each question carries 1 mark with no negative marking for wrong answers. The total score is 200. 68 questions are from Biology, 54 from Chemistry, 54 from Physics, 18 from English language, 6 from Logical reasoning.
The sharp reaction came after the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which oversaw the exam mandatory for future doctors, shared the results on X.
The results summary showed that over 110 candidates obtained 190 or above marks out of the 46,439 registered candidates. Over 1,000 students received 180 to 189 marks.
When the students appeared for MDCAT on September 10, hashtag MDCAT was among the top trends of X because the paper was allegedly leaked a day earlier.
Many users were sharing pictures of the alleged paper.
On Tuesday, it was reported that the Higher Education Commission in KP had foiled cheating attempts in the province.
The cheating scheme involved cutting-edge technology in KP, according to HEC Secretary Aneela Mahfooz Durrani. The officials have apprehended dozens of students attempting to use covert Bluetooth devices for cheating.
They had received information that a group of people were planning to manipulate the entrance test by allegedly using hidden Bluetooth devices to transmit answers to students who had paid them.
Candidates have urged the PMDC to conduct a retest amid such reports.
It merits here to mention that the council would take the MDCAT separately for the students from flood-affected areas after caretaker Health Minister Nadeem Jan took the “sympathetic view” while making the decision. The exam would be taken after consultations with provincial governments.
The date for the exam has been the centre of controversy in the past, prompting interim Prime Minister to take notice of the situation.
There were also some posts, claiming that some of the questions were out of the syllabus while some answers to the queries were not true.
Many students were reported to be protesting against the paper leak in Sindh, demanding the Jinnah Sindh Medical University to reconduct exam and conduct inquiry against those who leaked the paper.
“Huge accomplishment of Bluetooth nothing else ,There can’t be so genius students to achieve 198 score in such technical test ,There must be some illegitimacy in the conducting process,” wrote one of the users on X.
